System and method for reception time zone presentation of time sensitive scheduling data

This application claims priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/016,010, entitled, “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECEPTION TIME ZONE PRESENTATION OF TIME SENSITIVE SCHEDULING DATA,” by Robert B. Coley, filed Dec. 21, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to disseminating and displaying aggregated, globally sourced activity information, internet data publication techniques and targeted communications.

2. Description of the Related Art

Today many entities are faced with working and living in a global society. The need to coordinate activities which originate in foreign time zone is becoming more prevalent. More and more meetings are involving participants who attend from a time zone which is different from that of the coordinator. Travel for business and social reasons has continued to increase giving rise to a new class of problems for many participants. This class of problems relates to having to translate activity schedules into multi-time zones.

The basic problem with current approaches may be that they are grounded in recording and presenting all activities displayed from the perspective of a single recording time zone. Thus, if an activity occurs in another time zone from the home time zone of the user of manual and some automated scheduling or calendaring systems, the user may be forced to mentally adjust the time frame for the activity being recorded to the home time zone of the user. Yet another common problem with many automated scheduling and calendaring systems is that if the user changes the time zone on their receiving and display device, the activity times for all activities stored are adjusted when displayed whether the adjustment is appropriate or not. While the user may be able to manually and mentally account for incorrect adjustments by the way they enter the activity\'s time related attributes, this approach is not available when the activity\'s information is being passively delivered and the consumer is not involved in the recording of the activity\'s information.

With current shared calendar systems, the user can only post one time zone as part of activity entry on the system and therefore is confronted with a dilemma: what start and end time should be used on the calendar for activities which are hosted, attended, coordinated, or participated in a different time zone or multiple time zones. At present, the user may be able to post additional textual information on an appointment entry as a reminder. This is time consuming and does not necessarily avoid the problems associated with missed appointments due to improper or failed time translations.

The present disclosure accommodates the presentation of time frame elements of time sensitive scheduling data.

In one embodiment of the invention, presenting time frame elements of time sensitive scheduling data to an entity based on a reception time zone related to a passive delivery via a time sensitive scheduling data delivery network comprises accommodating a communications network passive delivery of time zone adjusted time sensitive scheduling data to an entity, aggregating into time sensitive scheduling data streams, specific time zone adjusted time sensitive scheduling data from originating organizations, affiliated groups of individuals, and individuals, transmitting via the communications network specific time zone adjusted time sensitive scheduling data streams aggregated from multiple originating organizations, affiliated groups of individuals, and individuals to the entity, and presenting time sensitive scheduling data and notices of upcoming time sensitive data activities in a dynamically adjusted manner affording the time zone adjustment based on a reception time zone in which the time sensitive scheduling data is being presented.

Another embodiment of the invention relates to transforming home time frame elements of time sensitive scheduling data in a manner affording time frame identification in the reception time zone in which the time sensitive scheduling data item is being transmitted and presented.

In another embodiment of the invention, transforming consists of exposing time zone indicators, and wherein exposing time zone indicators represents the amount of presentation necessary to communicate when an activity occurs in its home time zone relative to the reception time zone where the activity is being presented.

In another embodiment of the invention, transforming occurs within a programming function at the sourcing data center for transmission and on capable time sensitive scheduling data receiving devices for presentation.

Another embodiment of the invention relates to establishing the reception time zone presentation state (for example, visible or non-visible, played or silenced, animated or non-animated) for transmission and presentation of time sensitive scheduling data according to a base time zone for displaying and playing the time sensitive scheduling data.

Another embodiment of the invention relates to establishing the reception time zone presentation state for transmission and presentation of time sensitive scheduling data according to a designated reception time zone for the time sensitive scheduling data.

Another embodiment of the invention relates to establishing the reception time zone presentation state for transmission and presentation of reminder time sensitive scheduling data according to a receiving entity\'s reception time zone presentation preference for time sensitive scheduling data, the closeness to start time for the reminder time sensitive scheduling data activity, and a device receiving the reminder time sensitive scheduling data.

In another embodiment of the invention, the reminder time sensitive scheduling data is selected from the group consisting of receiving entity designated reminder items, receiving entity tagged reminder items, time sensitive scheduling data treated as observances, and a combination thereof.

In another embodiment of the invention, establishing the reception time zone presentation state consists of setting the reminder time sensitive scheduling data item\'s visibility attribute state to show item and representations of the item when presented, and setting the item\'s play attribute state to play item when presented, whenever the current time in the designated reception time zone falls within the reminder time sensitive scheduling data item\'s visibility and play activation time frame offset from the starting time of the time sensitive scheduling data on which the reminder time sensitive data item is based.

In another embodiment of the invention, establishing the reception time zone presentation state consists of setting observances time sensitive scheduling data item\'s visibility attribute state to show item and representations of the item when the current date in the designated reception time zone falls on the same date as the time sensitive scheduling data item being treated as an observance.